Gold & Silver Market 11-12-2015
There’s no question about it; last week wasn’t a good one for precious metals. Every benchmark across the sector fell with losses pushing past 5 percent for both gold and silver. Does this signal a collapse? We don’t think so just yet. Looking at other markets it looks like a general reluctance to invest was a more likely cause, with US equities looking soft and sharp falls in most of the overseas exchanges. There’s a lot of uncertainty around just now and it could be making people unwilling to commit their money. That does leave an opening for metals, because if it gets worse investors are going to start looking for a safe haven.
Gold set the pace for the rest of the sector, dropping steadily as soon as markets opened on Monday. At first that ran alongside a slight rise in the Dow Jones, but when equities fell back Tuesday gold kept going down. The fall steepened Thursday but leveled out again slightly in the last few hours of the period. Overall it lost $51.85 to end the week at $1,089.85. That puts a fall to below $1,000 within reach, a significant milestone that gold hasn’t touched in six years, and one that could make investors very nervous.
Silver followed pretty much the same track as gold, and posted a similar loss of around 5 percent. It fell by 76 cents to a final price of $14.78, which again is a new long-term low, but there’s some more optimistic news. The silver price continues to track gold closely, and what would really worry us is if it started to diverge again. So far there’s no sign of that happening, so there doesn’t look to be any particular issue with silver that isn’t affecting the market overall.
Moving on to the platinum group, platinum itself tracked gold and silver almost point for point, sliding steadily the whole week to finish at $942. That’s $41.50 lower than the previous Friday, a decline of 4.4 percent. That’s slightly lower than the drop in gold and silver but pretty much in the same ballpark, and again points to investor nervousness instead of a sector problem.
Palladium also fell, but things look a touch brighter here. While it spent most of the week dropping alongside the other metals, closing at $606 on Thursday and briefly dipping below $600 Friday morning, it then managed to turn round and climb again. By the time trading ended for the week it had made it back up to $623, leaving it a hefty $52.75 lower across the week. At over 8 percent that’s the biggest loss of any metal, but it looks like the markets have recognized that.
And, for once, that makes rhodium the sector’s strongest performer. It didn’t move at all through the period, staying firmly stuck at $750. In a generally falling market that makes it the winner by default, but we don’t think that signals any sudden strength.
So not a good week, but the smart money is on this being a general dip across multiple market sectors rather than a new metals crash. Don’t sell your stocks just yet, and be ready to add to them if prices reach bargain levels.
About the Author: Clint Stelfox
Clint is the director of marketing at Golden Eagle Coins. Son of Richard Stelfox, co-founder of the company, Clint has been living and breathing coins his entire life. After trading for a Philadelphia Stock Exchange firm for several years Clint returned to give Golden Eagle the online presence it has today. 
